We Don't Belong Here
by TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters
Summary: They were walking through the woods when the day took an interesting turn. Now, fictional characters are starting to appear, and two friends are left wondering exactly what on Earth happened.
1. Chapter 1

Um… hi, this is Ivy.

If you're reading this, then I suppose we somehow managed to send an email to another universe.

We're making this recording because we – we being Miranda and I – simply have to tell someone about our adventure. No one would believe us, anywhere, so we're simply going to record our story as we remember it and then you can choose whether to believe it or not. Probably the 'or not', but whatever. Whoever gets this email, could you maybe type it up and put it somewhere people will see it? Or do whatever you think is best.

Okay, now that's done, Miranda, why don't you start us off?

Okay. Miranda here.

I love our choir's annual retreats. They pick an isolated place where we can work on our music. They're usually surrounded by woods, so we can go for a walk or something during free time.

Which is what Ivy and me were doing when this whole mess started.

We were in the middle of a debate on whether the Avengers or the X-men would win a full on battle – just the teams from the movies, not the comics, since Ivy had only just started getting into the comics and didn't know much about them. Ivy was for the Avengers. I supported the X-men, because Wolverine would just take them all down with his claws and anything they did wouldn't really affect him all that much.

I believe she said, in order to prove her argument, something along the lines of "The Avengers would win because they're way cooler and because they've got the Black Widow and she's amazing". Such sound logic.

Anyhow, we were walking through the woods.

Ivy stopped suddenly. "Quiet!"

I halted, listening.

Then I heard it. Footsteps. The other footsteps halted too.

"Carmen! Ariel!" yelled Ivy. "Is that you?"

More footsteps.

"Hi, girls," said a male voice. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a glowing light blue cube lying on the ground anywhere, would you?"

Standing not ten feet away from us was a very familiar looking man, wearing black and carrying a bow, his eyes glowing blue. I yelped and jumped back in surprise.

There was a moment of silence. I looked at Ivy, to see if maybe my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. She was staring in shock as well.

Some inner sense told me that he'd get suspicious if it took either of us too long to answer. "Um… no," I said quickly.

He shrugged. "It was a worth a try," he said. "It fell. Out of our airplane."

Ivy eyed him, carefully stepping backwards. "What does this glowing blue cube do, exactly?"

"It's energy," he replied.

"Is it called the Tesseract?"

Ivy is, although reasonably clever, not always the best at hiding things.

Stop glaring at me, Ivy. You admit it often enough.

"What if it is?" he asked, taking a step closer.

"It sounded like something we learned about in… something we watched about World War Two," I offered quickly.

He didn't seem to relax too much at this explanation.

"Uh… we have to go," said Ivy, grabbing my arm. "The director will be mad if we're not back soon. Hope you find it!"

She dragged me back through the trees.

"Why didn't you just scream 'we're hiding something'?" I demanded.

Now I come to think about, I probably should have waited until we were out of earshot to say that.

**Just figured I'd put this out and see what happened. What does everyone think of the audio recording written down on paper style I'm trying to use? I figured I'd try something a little different.**


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, and it's Ivy now.

"Quiet. Let me think," I snapped. I'd just like to point out that _you _probably wouldn't be thinking straight if you had just a character out of a movie.

And unless that was Jeremy Renner or Jeremy Renner's identical twin dressed in costume, I guessed that was exactly what the man we had met was. Hawkeye, the world's greatest archer. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a member of the Avengers.

When the running footsteps sounded behind us, I knew we were in trouble. "Run!" I said to Miranda, and took off running. Branches clawed at my face. I panted for breath. My mind screamed for me to get away.

It wasn't until I reached the small path up to the main building that I remembered Miranda.

Miranda here.

I wasn't in nearly as good shape as Ivy and she took off ahead of me with ease.

Hawkeye grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth with one hand and pinning my arms against my sides with an arm.

The moment he grabbed me, I froze. Then I kicked back at his legs and squirmed, sinking my teeth into his hand. I knew I didn't have a chance of winning, but at least it would buy Ivy some time.

He pulled his arms away suddenly. I kicked him as I could and ran.

Something stabbed into my arm. My knees gave out and I collapsed face first into the dirt. Someone rolled me onto my back. I stared up at Hawkeye for a moment, then everything went black.

Ivy again.

I panicked. Should I run back to help her and almost definitely get caught? Or keep running?

Footsteps sounded behind me. Not Miranda's.

I was almost to the main building. Would he follow me in? I glanced over my shoulder to see that he had almost caught up with me. I was almost to there, just a few more yards then around the corner.

A hand seized a hold of my hair. Not good. He started to pull back, to take me to the ground, but I grabbed his hands and pressed them against my head, twisting around him and taking him to the ground.

To this day, I still can't believe I actually managed to do it. Maybe he wasn't expecting it and didn't quite manage to react in time. Or maybe he was trying harder to resist Loki's control and it slowed him down for a second. That's all I can come up with.

Before I could do anything else, he was climbing to his feet, and he didn't look too pleased with me. I decided now was as good a time as any to run for my life. I ran up to the door and through it, straight into two girls.

Carmen – one of the altos who had attended karate with me for a year or two, then decided she wanted to do other things with her time – and Ariel – one of the sopranos who took kickboxing and was always up for a sparring match – were pulling on their shoes at the front door. "We were just going out to find you – Ivy?" said Carmen. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

I told her what had happened, stumbling over my words, expecting Hawkeye to come through the door at any second. But he didn't. I suppose he must not have wanted to raise the attention that going inside to chase after me would have gotten him.

"So, what you're saying is that someone just attacked you and Miranda, and Miranda didn't get away," said Carmen. One of her gifts in her life – she's always calm. _Always_. It's kind of spooky, actually.

"Yeah." I hadn't told them about Hawkeye – they'd think I was insane.

Ariel ran off to get the director. Everyone else chattered excitedly.

"Ivy?" asked Carmen. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

I shook my head. I was fine. Miranda wasn't.

I didn't cry. I never cry. Instead, I sank down next to the wall, burying my face in my hands.

I could describe everything that was running through my head. But really, there was too much going on in there to properly describe. But the foremost emotions were worry, frustration with myself, and shock. Complete and utter shock.


	3. Chapter 3

Ivy here.

I wasn't sure what to expect. If we were somehow in the Marvel universe, then I expected S.H.I.E.L.D. would show up. Then again, maybe if, as I suspected, we were in the middle of _The Avengers_' timeline, then they might be too busy.

Then again, they probably wanted Hawkeye back.

So, all in all, with everything that had happened that day, I wasn't really surprised when Agent Phil Coulson walked through the front door, with the Black Widow trailing behind him. I had no doubt there were more agents elsewhere.

Inwardly, I was torn between squealing with delight – Black Widow is the best Avenger _ever_ – and going out and hunting down Hawkeye by myself to find Miranda.

Agent Coulson addressed the director first, telling her he needed to talk to her for a moment, and they walked off.

Black Widow turned to us. "Are any of you Ivy Williams? If you are, I need to talk to you."

"I'm Ivy," I said, stepping forward.

Ariel looked us up and down. "Are you related? You look very alike."

I looked at Black Widow. "Not that I know of."

Ariel was right, though. Same red hair, same skin, and almost the same height, though she was a bit taller than me. The only main difference was our eyes – hers were green, mine blue. Miranda and many other friends had pointed out our resemblance on several occasions, and I was always happy when people did. Now… I didn't know what to think or feel about it.

"Natalie Rushman," she said by way of introduction. "We just have some questions to ask you. Is there somewhere we can go?"

I nearly bust out laughing when she introduced herself with that name, but managed to contain my laughter, knowing it would raise too many questions. And I didn't want to tell the truth.

Just so we're clear on this, I _don't _tell lies. _Ever_. However, telling them the truth would probably result in my being placed in an insane asylum. Or, if they actually believed me, would probably want to ask me more questions, would want to figure out what in the world had happened. Getting questioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. was never exactly on my list of things to do before I die.

Honestly, I didn't really care what had happened to end up with me in the wrong universe. I just wanted to get Miranda back, sleep for a couple days and, hopefully, wake up where we belonged – where ever the Avengers were fictional. We _didn't _belong in the Marvel universe.


	4. Chapter 4

Still Ivy here.

Have you ever tried to tell someone the truth while leaving something out?

Yeah, real easy. And try doing it when the person you're talking to is trained to tell if you're lying or hiding something. I was always terrible at hiding things.

I stood in the middle of the room, answering her questions.

"So what you're telling me," said Black Widow, "is that you were on a walk with your friend when your attacker appeared and asked if you'd seen a glowing blue cube?"

"Yes. He said it fell out of an airplane. I asked if it was the Tesseract," I said. "We – Miranda and me – saw something about it in something we watched about World War Two."

That was true. _Captain America: The First Avenger_ is about World War Two. Just a different version of it that what our world had.

"What was it you saw?" she asked. Her tone was friendly, but something told me her suspicions were aroused.

"Uh… a movie."

"What was it called?"

"Miss Rushman, what does this have to do with what happened to Miranda? The longer she's missing, the less chance we'll have of finding her."

There was a knock on the door. She glanced toward the little window in the door. "Hold on a minute," she said, and left.

I sank down against the wall. That was a dumb idea, getting mad like that. Now she suspected something. It shouldn't have been this easy for me to guess that something was irregular about this. I considered going to the door and eavesdropping, but I decided against it – they'd probably know, somehow.

The door opened again. Both Black Widow and Agent Coulson walked inside.

"Miss Williams?"

"Yes?" I asked, wishing I had Miranda's ability to hide her emotions. It's actually kind of creepy, how she manages to that so well.

"How do you know about the Tesseract?"

I pasted an expression of innocence and puzzlement on my face. "I already told Miss Rushman. I saw something about it in a movie."

"_What_ movie?"

"_Captain America_," I replied, hoping maybe they'd come to the conclusion that it was just a rumor or something that had been mentioned in a recent movie – there must have been at least _rumors_ about something like that. Then I remembered that Agent Coulson probably would have seen the movie if it was about Captain America. My quick thinking and on the spot plans could really use a little work. But there must have been at least one movie that at least _mentioned_ the Tesseract. Right?

"Which one? There's about five movies with that title released since World War Two. When did it come out?" he asked.

"Just recently, not _exactly_ sure when," I replied. I actually couldn't remember when _Captain America: The First Avenger_ was released. I saw all those movies after I saw _The Avengers_, and honestly didn't remember when that one was released.

"There haven't been any released for the past ten years. And the existence of the Tesseract was hidden from the public."

Whoops.


	5. Chapter 5

Still Ivy here.

This was going to be hard to explain my way out of.

My mind started racing. I had been suppressing everything – my shock, my fear – all day, just trying to keep myself from really thinking about exactly what was going on. Now, it was starting to come through. I ordered myself to think, to figure out a plan. There were two exits from the room. The window behind me and the door. What was I thinking? They wouldn't let me get away.

"If you want us to find your friend, then you should tell us everything, Miss Williams," said Agent Coulson.

"I did tell you everything."

"How do you know about the Tesseract?"

"I told you. In a movie."

"You expect us to believe that?"

"No, not anymore," I admitted. "It's the truth, though. Really, we just saw something about it in a movie about World War Two."

The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exchanged glances.

Should I run? They'd catch me. Should I lie? I don't tell lies and besides, they wouldn't believe any story I came up with, they would be able to tell it was a lie. Should I tell them? They'd still think I was lying - or completely crazy.

I bolted for the door.

Yes. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it was it was a bad idea. It was a really dumb decision, admittedly, which should have been _way_ thought through better. But thinking, as you may have noticed, isn't my style. I'm working on it, okay?

I'm not slow, but speed isn't one of my strong points physically, either. I wasn't even halfway across the room before a hand closed on my wrist. I twisted free and kept running. Two arms grabbed me from behind, pulling me backward. I yelped instinctively, then realized it wouldn't do any good and started trying to break free. Which I also knew wouldn't do any good.

"You're not getting out of here." Black Widow's voice was next to my ear. "We don't want to hurt you, but you need to tell us the truth. You want us to find your friend, but we need to know everything to do that."

I prayed that they would believe me, then started to talk.


	6. Chapter 6

Miranda here.

In case you missed me for the last couple messages, it's because we are attempting to keep this in chronological order, and we guess I woke about the time she was being questioned – as best we can calculate it, somewhere around seven hours.

I woke up in a sitting position. For a moment, I wondered what was going on.

Then the headache hit, and it wasn't really all that important any more. It felt like something had exploded inside my skull. I kept both my eyes squeezed shut.

Footsteps sounded nearby, before they could register, something bit into my arm. My eyes snapped open, my hand flying instinctively to the spot.

Another explosion of pain as the light hit my eyes, and I went limp again, keeping my eyes closed. I seemed to be moving – the bit inside the truck, maybe?

Hands pressed a cup into mine. "Drink this," ordered a male voice.

I obeyed.

The pain eased slightly and I opened my eyes.

Everything was out of focus. My glasses were gone. I couldn't quite see who was standing in front of me, but didn't have to see him to guess who it was. Hawkeye. Under mind control, I guessed, by a certain alien who thought he was a god.

"What's going on?" I asked. My mind felt slow, like I was still waking up.

"What's your name?"

"Miranda Pond." Yes, Whovians, like the characters in _Dr. Who_. Still upset that they died.

"I have some questions to ask you. Answer them truthfully, and you can go home."

I had a feeling I didn't want to know what happen if the questions _weren't_ answered truthfully. But would he keep his side of the bargain, once he had the answers? Would he even believe me? Risks I would have to take. I wasn't going to lie. Nor was I going to tell him about the _Avengers _movie. He would ask what happened in the movie, and he probably wouldn't be too happy about the ending – at least, not at the moment.

I have a friend who once said she thought it would be cool to be interrogated. I strongly disagreed with her at the time and still do.

I told him there were comics, and my friend and I had read them on occasion.

"You expect me to believe you?" he asked after I finished.

"I don't know what to expect. But it's true."

He stood up and walked away. "There's three possibilities right now. Either you're crazy, you're lying, or you're telling the truth. I've ruled out lying – I'm trained to tell when someone is lying to me, and if you were going to lie, I think you probably would have come up with a more believable lie. So the two options are crazy and telling the truth. Crazy would explain the story you have, but it wouldn't explain the information, so I'm inclined to believe you're telling the truth."

Somehow, his saying that reminded me of that scene in _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe _where Susan and Peter talk to the professor about Lucy discovering a world inside a wardrobe. My story was about as believable.

"Out of the three, it's the most plausible. Your friend with the red hair, she's from this alternate universe too?"

I nodded and squinted, trying to make out his face clearly. I still didn't know where I was or what was going on, my glasses being missing and all. I momentarily considered asking if he had them, then decided that if he had my glasses and was planning on returning them, he probably would have already.

He walked away.

Internally, I was panicking, trying to figure out was going on, and what was going to happen to me. Whatever I was in – probably the truck – was brightly lit. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was, but couldn't pick anything recognizable out of the blur.

I am the thinker – Ivy's opposite when it came to planning or caution. But the best plan in the world wasn't going to get me out of this.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, it's Ivy again.

I told them everything. About the comics. And the movies. And the _Avengers_. Fortunately, I managed to keep myself from giving away the plot of the _Avengers_. I also made sure to back up everything I gave them with pieces of information that probably weren't readily available to the general public.

Coulson just stared at me as I spoke. When I finished, he shook his head.

"I thought I'd seen and heard everything after we had aliens visit Earth."

If the comics were right, then he had plenty to look forward to, but I decided not to say anything. Because if the movie was right, he wouldn't. Then again, there _is_ that S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show coming out… but anyhow.

But see? I'm learning to keep my mouth shut.

Black Widow released me and backed away a few steps.

"There are some people who'd like to talk to you," said Agent Coulson.

I had no doubt there was. I also knew that would probably involve going to the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. And Loki probably hadn't made his move there yet. Which meant I'd be pulled into the fight on the helicarrier.

And they'd want to know what was going to happen. Telling them what was going to happen to Agent Coulson... the idea wasn't too appealling.

"You know how all this ends?" said Coulson.

"Well… sort of. I know what might happen, but not really sure whether or not it will any more."

The idea of Loki winning was sickening, but also realistic.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Black Widow.

"I mean I don't know, pure and simple. The tiniest thing could happen and change it completely, and make any knowledge I have useless."

"We still need to talk to you."

"Do you want to know what's going to happen?" I asked. "Do you really want to know? You may not like everything you find out."

"Are we going to lose?" asked Agent Coulson.

"Did I say that?" I asked.

"Are we?"

I couldn't not answer him, but I also couldn't tell him. It was probably better to give as little information as possible.

"That's a good question. If you knew you lost, then would you even try? If you knew you won, would you try as hard as you could? Anything I tell you – any tiny thing that happens – could completely reverse what happens." And I sure wasn't going to tell him he was going to die.

"You don't have to tell us anything right now, but we still need to talk to you," repeated Agent Coulson.

"Okay," I said.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi, it's Miranda.

I fell asleep at some point, a deep, dreamless sleep. The only explanation I can come up with for that is that whatever Hawkeye gave me also contained something to make me sleep. He never admitted to later, so it will have to remain a mystery.

I woke to someone shaking my arm. "Here, take this," said Hawkeye, pressing a glass of something into my hands.

If he had added something, it wouldn't have mattered whether I drank it or not – he would have gotten it into me one way or another, and I was thirsty. I drained the contents and set it down.

He grabbed my arm. Instinctively, I tried to pull it away, but he tightened his grip and tightened something shiny onto one wrist, then the other. "It's just a precaution," he said, standing up and walking away. My gaze went down to my hands in my lap, cuffed together.

I wasn't really thinking about any of this and, instead, did my best to pretend it was a dream, that could end at any minute. This I knew to be wrong. My arm was sore from my pinching it over and over again.

I had also considered the idea it was all a practical joke. The joke probably would have ceased long ago.

The only reason I hadn't freaked out about it was because I focused on other things. What was Ivy doing? She'd always said she'd like to meet Black Widow, her all time favorite Avenger. She was the comics fan between the two of us. Whenever anything with Black Widow came out, she was all over it. She knew far more about Marvel than I did, though she'd only been into comics since _The Avengers_, which was her first Marvel movie. What I knew came only from movies – which I'd seen as they came out, instead of all afterwards – and Ivy's exited chatter over comics that she'd enjoyed. To me, though, X-men beat Avengers every time. Like I've already said, Wolverine would just slice through them all with his claws and not take any damage.

It was just so strange, though. I knew the favorite Avenger of nearly every friend of mine who'd seen the movie, and most of them had. Ariel's favorite was Hawkeye, while Carmen preferred Captain America, although she was with me on the X-men being the better of the two teams. It was too bizarre that this was happening, that these people really existed here.

What was going to happen to me here? What would Loki want with me, when he got out? Would Ivy just keep her nose out everything and stay out of the way – that wasn't a question, really. I didn't doubt she would, it was just a matter of how far she would get in.

Supposing this all turned out well, though – what would happen? Would we ever get back where we belonged? In our proper universe? Where the planet _didn't_ get invaded by aliens and people _didn't_ build flying armored suits or turn into green rage monsters?

I read fanfiction on occasion. Mostly when Carmen showed me the ones she found. Despite whatever a person might say about it, there are good stories among the bad ones. Anyhow, I'd read a couple stories where people found themselves in the Marvel universe. Many people who like a particular fandom probably wish they could get pulled into the story and meet the characters, or at least think about it. Ever wondered what you'd do if you actually _did_ get pulled into the story? You probably have. You'd save Coulson and all that.

But what about its impact on everything that was to follow? One little change might alter the future the Marvel movies. Ever thought of that?


	9. Chapter 9

Ivy here.

Okay, so summary of my second day at our choir retreat. Got up in the morning, had breakfast, practiced with the rest of choir until twelve, had lunch, went for a walk in the woods, met a character from a movie, lost my friend, met some people from an organization that's not supposed to exist, and got dragged back to their base.

Yeah, it was probably one of the weirder days I've ever had.

The helicarrier, by the way, is much more impressive in real life, trust me. It was _huge_.

Black Widow and Coulson tried to steer me past Wishbone Lab without the two scientists inside noticing.

Notice that I said 'tried'.

"Hey, Coulson," said Tony Stark, my second favorite Avenger, sticking his head out as we were walking by. "Did Agent Romanoff clone herself?"

I will always consider that to be one of the nicest compliments I've ever received, even if he hadn't intended it as a compliment.

"_No_," said Black Widow.

"Who's this, then? Your sister or something?"

"Mr. Stark, you're supposed to be locating the Tesseract. Please stick to that," said Coulson. He grabbed my arm and started to pull me forward faster.

Mr. Stark followed as we continued down the hall. "Don't see a lot of teenagers here. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen any. So, what's special about you?" he asked, addressing me.

"Stark," said Black Widow warningly.

I didn't say anything, guessing it was probably better that way.

"Are you related to Agent Romanoff?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hey, so you do talk. I was starting to wonder to wonder about that."

"Whatever made you think I didn't?"

"What's your name?"

"Good question."

"Interesting name."

"Mr. Stark, go back to the lab," said Agent Coulson in a warning tone.

Bruce Banner had come out too, standing in the doorway. It was hard to believe that he could turn into the Hulk, even after watching _The Avengers_.

"Stark, we need to find the Tesseract. That's your job, stick to it. Back to work," said Black Widow. "_Now_."

He withered under her glare and started back towards the lab.


	10. Chapter 10

Ivy here.

Coulson asked me the questions. Just about every question you'd think he'd ask if something like this happened, and a lot of things that I never would have thought of to ask.

I'm no good at hiding things, as you may have already noticed. On top of that, I was still in shock from the day's events and my friend going missing.

When he asked me what was going to happen, though, I had an answer for him that I had mentally prepared beforehand.

"What do you think would happen, if I told you what was going to happen?"

"It depends on the information you give us."

"What if someone was going to die?" I asked. "By the way, that's hypothetical, I never said anyone is going to die in this."

"Is someone going to die?"

I didn't answer. Couldn't, somehow, for a moment. "Do you think it's a good idea to know the future? What if someone was going to die, but their death was something that ultimately was the reason everything turned out right? And I'm not saying this is going to happen, I'm just saying it's the best example I can come up with. But is it a good idea to try to change events in time? I don't even know if what's happening to my friend will change anything, and the fewer changes, the easier all of this will be." We didn't belong here, me and Miranda. It wasn't our place to change things, and it was better if we left everything intact.

In fanfictions that Carmen showed me, where people from our world get pulled into the _Avengers_ movie, they always try to change things, to avoid Coulson's death in particular. But I wasn't going to do that. One tiny thing out of place could cause huge changes. But, if I knew someone was going to die, shouldn't I do everything in my power to try to save them? I put the thought aside for the moment.

"It's not my decision to make, whether or not we should know," said Coulson.

It was probably either Director Fury's or the World Security Council's. I wasn't exactly a huge fan of the World Security Council's judgment after they sent a nuclear missile in New York. Nick Fury, I wasn't sure about either.

"Write it down," said Agent Coulson. He pushed a pad of paper and a pen across the table. "Write down everything, every detail. We'll decide what to do with it from there, whether or not it should be read."

I did write down every detail. Everything, from Loki breaking out to the nuclear missile in New York. I folded the paper several times and handed it to him.

And prayed that the information would be used wisely, if at all.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, it's Ivy.

Surprisingly, they decided to put me in the lab with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner to watch me.

I suppose they had security cameras trained on us the entire time and were at a loss for what to do. Otherwise, I can't see why they'd let Tony Stark _near_ me.

"Hey, it's Romanoff's twin!" said Mr. Stark as I walked into the lab with Agent Coulson.

"My name's Ivy," I replied.

"Stark, don't get any ideas," warned Coulson. "It's still not your business why she's here, understood?"

It only took five seconds after the agent left for Tony Stark to start asking questions. "So. Ivy. Got a last name? Romanoff, maybe?"

"Williams," I replied. "Ivy Williams. And you are Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man."

He looked pleased beyond words that I knew who he was. Why I don't know – he must have been used to it.

"You got it. This Dr. Bruce Banner, who transforms into an enormous green rage monster when angry. Just thought I'd mention it."

Dr. Banner winced visibly.

"Good to meet you," I said, extending a hand.

I wasn't scared about him hulking out – so long as I didn't provoke him, he wouldn't Hulk out until later.

Dr. Banner eyed me a little suspiciously, but shook my hand and returned the handshake.

"Wow, thought I'd get more a reaction," said Mr. Stark. "Green rage monsters aren't exactly the norm."

"Well, after the day I've been having, that _is_ almost normal."

"How _has_ your day been, Ivy?"

"Interesting, to say the least."

"I'm still not convinced you're not related to Agent Romanoff."

"As far as I know, I'm not. I suppose it's just one of those weird things that just happens."

"Prove it. DNA sample."

He'd probably see if he could find any traces of me on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. He was probably already running some kind of search for me. "You can just check after your little program finishes breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files," I replied without thinking.

Dr. Banner turned to face me.

Mr. Stark stared, open mouthed. "How could you _possibly_ know about that?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"It has something to do with my interesting day," I replied.

They just kept staring, then eventually went back to work.


	12. Chapter 12

Miranda here.

I wasn't really aware of much going on around me, for the most part. Between the blur that was my vision when my glasses were gone and – I strongly suspect – something Hawkeye put the water he gave me, it was too much bother to try.

I supposed that he wanted me to clearly remember as little of this as possible, which was why only he said anything to me.

I eventually became aware of two people talking nearby.

"What are we supposed to do with her?" asked a voice. Dr. Selvig, I suppose. "She might know something that could help us."

As if I'd tell them if I did.

"What would we do with her when we –" Hawkeye cut himself off quickly. I knew what he was talking about – the attack on the helicarrier. He paused, probably considering the options.

Then their conversation became too muffled for me to hear.

What would they do with me? I certainly wasn't going to give them any information to help Loki, and it wasn't as if I really had any anyhow. But what else would they do with me?

Actually, I didn't want that question answered. Some of the possibilities that came to mind weren't too pleasant.

Footsteps sounded. I directed my attention in the direction they came from.

Hawkeye crouched down next to me, brushing a few strands of hair off my neck. I turned to see what he was doing. He stabbed something into the side of my neck. Everything whirled together and went black.

Hey, it's Ivy here.

Black Widow showed up at some point after the little incident with telling them I knew about Mr. Stark's program.

"We need you to confirm something," she said.

I followed her to the bridge. I could feel everyone's gazes on me as she led me to the computer screen in that big table.

She pulled up some pictures.

"These were taken about ten minutes ago."

The first picture was of Hawkeye, pulling something out of the back of a truck. The next picture was blurry, but I recognized what he was carrying at once.

"Is that your friend?" asked Black Widow.

I could only nod.

"These were taken about ten minutes ago, in New York, near Stark Tower. From there, we believe they switched vehicles, but we're still trying to figure out what happened next."

At least Miranda seemed to be alive. Unconscious, handcuffed, probably terrified, but alive.

Black Widow's eyes lingered on Hawkeye. For a moment, she looked worried.

"Hit him in the head," I whispered, too softly for anyone else to hear. "Cognitive recalibration. That'll get Loki out."

She cast a glance in my direction. "It's _that_ easy?"

"Yeah."


	13. Chapter 13

Ivy here.

So while I was with Black Widow, guess what Tony Stark was up to?

I walked in to see him and Dr. Banner looking at Mr. Stark's phone. They both looked at me with guilty expressions.

"So, what _is_ so interesting about you to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" asked Mr. Stark. "I mean, I've seen what there is about you available on the internet. Impressive demonstration that last karate tournament, by the way."

My opponent had offered to let me win if I went on a date with him. I won without accepting his offer. For one, I'm waiting on dating until I can actually get married. Two, the guy was annoying anyhow, so it wasn't a particularly hard decision to make.

"You're a busy girl," continued Mr. Stark. "You've got karate, singing, ballet until recently, decent grades. But I can't seem to find anything that would be reason enough for you to be here."

I groaned. The whole ballet thing had _not _been my choice. Mom had wanted me to do it, and I had. For ten years, ever since I was five. I finally quit a few months before, though, after a boy from karate showed up to one of the recitals – his sister was in it with me – and seen me in a pink, frilly outfit. The next day, I had come into karate and had every boy in the class watching something on someone's cell phone. He'd posted a video on Youtube and emailed the link to _everyone_. Me, one the best black belts in the class and the only girl, dancing. I was also not particularly _good_ at ballet. The whole incident was deeply humiliating and took them months to forget. I prayed Mr. Stark hadn't seen that video.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there.

"I thought you weren't supposed to ask me," I said.

"Yeah Stark. I thought you weren't supposed to ask her."

It was Captain America in full uniform, standing behind us. I practically jumped out of my skin. Captain America is, although not my favorite Avenger – a position forever held by Black Widow – quite near the top of the list.

"Hey, Spangles," said Mr. Stark. "Look what else we got assigned to doing? Baby sitting."

I was still in shock at seeing Captain America himself, otherwise that little comment probably would have ticked me off.

"Hi," I said, addressing the captain, unsure of what else to say.

"Hello." He looked a little surprised at seeing me.

"I'm Ivy Williams," I said.

"Captain Steve Rogers. Call me Cap." He studied me for another moment. "What are you doing on the helicarrier?" he asked. "Are you related to someone here at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Question of the hour, Capsicle," said Mr. Stark. "Maybe she'll tell _you_. I can't get a word out of her."

"Mr. Stark…" I said. Just my being there might change the timeline to the point where the story would end differently. No need to risk it making any more changes. "I'm not allowed to tell you," I said, after a moment's pause. "And you won't find the reason why in anything on the internet. You are supposed to be finding the Tesseract, Mr. Stark, not any secrets I might have."


	14. Chapter 14

Ivy here.

I should have gotten out of the room as soon as Mr. Stark's program broke in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files.

I was curious about he'd say, and I figured I'd be able to get out the door in time.

Mr. Stark went straight to looking for anything he could about me. He didn't exactly hide his search.

"I don't believe it," he said after a minute of reading through what he found.

"Believe it," I replied.

"You are not part of an alternate universe," said Mr. Stark. "I've seen weird, but this a new level entirely."

"I'm having trouble believing this too," said Dr. Banner.

"So am I. But Loki's minions have my friend because of it, which makes it much easier for me to believe."

"What are you _doing_, Mr. Stark?" Director Nick Fury strode into the room. He glanced at me for a moment, then directed his attention to Mr. Stark.

"Was about to ask you the same thing, Nick. What is Phase 2?"

Cap set something down on the table with a loud thud. I jumped. I hadn't noticed him come in.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

Director Fury reacted quickly. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. That does not mean we're –"

"I'm sorry, Nick," said Mr. Stark, turning a computer screen towards Fury. "What were you lying?"

On the screen were plans for weapons of some sort. Powered by the Tesseract.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit," said Cap.

The Black Widow and Thor entered the room.

"Did you know about this?" Dr. Banner asked, addressing Black Widow.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

"I was in Calcutta, I think I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," said Dr. Banner. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him," said Director Fury, pointing at Thor.


	15. Chapter 15

Still Ivy.

"Me?" repeated Thor.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," said Director Fury. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out-gunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

I decided now would be a good time to make an exit and headed toward the door.

"And what's the whole alternate dimension thing with Romanoff's clone there?" asked Mr. Stark. "You actually believed it?"

Every eye in the room turned to me.

"I am not Agent Romanoff's clone," I said. "How's your new arc reactor, Mr. Stark? Palladium in the chest isn't much fun, is it?"

His eyes widened. "How did you know about that?"

"I come from an alternate universe where there was a movie about it."

"Was it any good?"

Somehow, I wasn't surprised that how good the movie about him was took priority in his mind over the whole there's-a-movie-about-me-in-an-alternate-universe thing. "Yeah." Some of my friends disliked it, but I didn't think it was _so _bad. My opinion, admittedly, is probably biased because of Black Widow. "The one about you starting out as Iron Man was more interesting, I thought."

"Is this… normal?" asked Cap. "Alternate universes?"

"No," said Black Widow. "First we've heard of it was about twenty four hours ago."

"And I only figured it out a few hours before you did," I replied.

This wasn't good. I couldn't back out of the room without people noticing now. Which meant that I would get caught up in the explosion. But I couldn't tell them.

And then the computer made a little beeping sound.

"Located the Tesseract?" asked Black Widow.

"I can get us there faster," said Mr. Stark.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," said Thor. "No human is a match for it."

Stark turned to leave. Cap stepped in front of him.

"You're not going alone!"

"You going to stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

An expression of shock crossed Dr. Banner's face as he looked at the computer screen.

I couldn't take it anymore and made a break for the door.

And that was the floor dropped out from under us, and I was falling.


	16. Chapter 16

Still Ivy here.

The next thing I was really aware of next was something pinning my legs. I tried to pull my legs free, but it was too heavy.

I looked around. Black Widow was trying to free her legs from the same thing that had mine pinned down. Dr. Banner was lying on the ground, his face turning green.

She pulled herself free and turned her attention to me. "You okay?" She started to pull on whatever was pinning me.

"I think so. Just go," I said. "Dr. Banner's going to hulk out. Just go before he does it."

"Not a chance. Bruce," she said, turning to him. "You've got to fight it. I will get you out of this. I promise, you will walk away and you will never look back."

It was too late. He was growing bigger, slowly changing.

The movie doesn't even come close to capturing how terrifying it actually is, to know that in a moment you're going to be attacked by a giant green monster which could snap your body like a toothpick.

Then my legs were free.

"Go!" she ordered, pulling me to my feet and shoving me forward. "Move!"

I took off in another direction. It would be difficult to outrun the Hulk in any case, but I am, as previously mentioned, not particularly fast. Luckily for me, he decided to chase Black Widow instead of me.

I kept running, though, until I was well and truly lost.

I stopped at last, leaning against the wall to catch my breath.

Footsteps sounded nearby. I started to turn, only to find myself staring at an arrow.

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

"Don't yell," he said. "It'll be easier that way."

"What did you do with Miranda?"

"She's fine," said Hawkeye.

That was a cause for some relief. He wouldn't really have a reason to lie to me in this case – I didn't think.

"Are you going to shoot me?" I asked.

"That depends on whether or not you do what I tell you. Put your hands where I can see them, then turn around."

I hesitated. He'd probably whack me in the head and I'd be completely at his mercy.

Instead, I made what holds my record for dumb instant decisions. I stepped aside and tried to take the bow out of his hands.

Yeah. My instant decisions could use just a little bit of work.

It failed miserably, in case you had any doubts about that.

He dropped the bow and grabbed me. I kneed him, hard. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling my head back. Something sharp pricked my neck – the tip of a knife.

"You're going to regret that."


	17. Chapter 17

Ivy here. Still.

For those of you who wonder why Miranda doesn't get a lot of time talking, it's because she was unconscious or close to it for almost all of this. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Hawkeye tugged harder on my hair, pulling my head even further back. The cold tip of the knife pressed harder into my neck. I was afraid for my life in that moment.

It's not that I'm not particularly afraid of dying – if I die, I go to heaven, I hope. It's more what happens to get me there that worries me.

He let go and punched me in the face. I fell back, my head hitting the wall, the taste of blood filling my mouth. I scrambled to my feet, only for two kicks to the ribs to knock me down again.

He leaned down and Something bit into the side of my neck. I groaned as everything went blurry. Hawkeye waited a moment, then prodded me with his foot. Waves of pain washed through my entire body, but my body barely twitched.

He picked me up off the ground and threw me over his shoulder.

"Hold it, Clint."

It was Black Widow's voice.

"You might hit her, Nat," he said.

"You know I've got better aim than that."

He pulled me off his shoulder, wrapping his arm around my neck, the only reason I was able to stay upright. A sharp knife point pressed into my throat. In front of us was the blurry figure of Black Widow, her bright red hair standing out in my blurring vision. She had a gun aimed at us. Something wet trickled down my neck.

I lifted both arms up, grasping his arm and trying to pull it down. He pressed the knife point in a little harder, but I managed to slide under his arm. I fell hard to the ground.

He tried to pull me up again, but Black Widow was on him, yanking him off me. I pulled myself out of the way and toward the wall.

The next thing I was aware of, aside from pain, was someone rolling me onto my back.

"Stay awake," ordered Black Widow, starting to inspect my injuries.

My ribs screamed – a couple were probably broken, though I'd never broken a rib before so I wasn't sure. I'd lost most of my vision from one eye, from swelling, I guessed. Her fingers brushed the side of my neck, the exact spot where the needle – I assumed it was a needle - had entered my neck.

That hurt worse than anything I'd ever experienced. It burned, like fire – no, like acid – no, that's too mild a comparison. It sent waves of pain shooting through my body, just from a gentle touch, and I couldn't flinch away. Things blurred even more.

Footsteps sounded. "What happened?" asked a male voice.

"Hawkeye," replied Black Widow. "She needs medical attention – he injected her with something – but I can't leave Clint."

Everything started to blur together as a metal arm slid under my back, then everything went dark.


	18. Chapter 18

Yup, it's still Ivy.

I've had weird dreams in my life. The weirdest one yet, though, was the one I had after I passed out.

It was about a man. He wore a tweed jacket and a bow tie. His hair was red brown. A small device dangled from one hand.

"Hello!" He talked with a British accent. "I'm the Doctor, and you're Ivy. You probably have loads of questions about what's been happening to you lately."

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, I'm here to answer them. First, you're probably wondering how these fictional characters are coming to life. Well, you _are_ in a different universe, just confirming that. When you were a baby, you were exposed to a crack in time and space, and, long story and a lot of complicated science short, the result is your ability to transport between universes."

Most of you are probably wondering why I wasn't more surprised. Trust me, after the last few days, pretty much anything could happen and not surprise me. And if he was offering me answers… "Why didn't I start doing it sooner?"

"You've been doing it for years, you just didn't notice because the ones you got to were so similar and, when you were younger, your body wasn't strong enough to take you anywhere for very long. Now you're older, you can transport yourself to one and stay there for an extended period of time, until you bring yourself back again."

"How do I do that? How do I control it, Doctor?"

He swallowed. "You don't control over it, really. Reading comics, watching these movies, even just talking about them. That may help trigger it. Beyond that… I don't know. Sorry."

"How did I get Miranda into it with me?"

"You touched her while in being transported yourself. Every time you touch someone, you run the risk of doing that."

Was I going to be like Rogue from _X-men_, then? Unable to touch people because of what might happen?

"So… Avenger lands a plane in random area that just happens to be where I am, because the Tesseract just happened to fall out and nearby."

"It's not coincidence. You're like a magnet. You draw these things to you. You're like a gap, between the many universes. Any traffic between them, it's drawn to you. Think of it like… like things into to a black hole. The gravity is too much for them once they get too close, and then they're sucked through."

I didn't know much about black holes, so I took his word for it. "I'm a black hole."

"I suppose, in a way. Between dimensions. You can switch people between the many universes. You're like a portal, able to switch between the two."

"You're a dream. You aren't necessarily right," I protested.

"I'm not a dream, not really. I'm actually sitting right next to you, projecting my voice and image into your head with the sonic."

"Sonic screwdriver."

Sonic screwdriver? Who looks at a screwdriver and says, "hey, this could be a little more sonic"?

"I'm going to use it to heal you. You travel between dimensions, you get covered in interdimensional energy – whatever's between the universes, you get covered in it. And you've got a good thick coating of it from all of your travel between them. The sonic will help your body absorb it and turn it into energy that your body will use to heal your injuries and wake you up, with no pain. You should be up and feeling fine pretty much as soon as you wake up."

A tingling feeling passed through my body.

"Got to go now," said the Doctor. "They'll see me if I stay any longer. You'll probably see me again soon. Goodbye!" And then he vanished.

"Sonic?"

I woke up in time to see the door shut. And wonder what on Earth had just happened.

**Is that explanation enough for everyone, or should I expand on it more at a later time? I probably will in any case, but in case anyone's confused…**

**Who likes my inclusion of the Doctor? I may write a **_**Dr. Who**_** fanfiction with some of Ivy and/or Miranda at some point. Would anyone like to see that?**


	19. Chapter 19

So… hi. It's Miranda. I'm back.

I woke up lying on my side, with the sun beating down on me. Both my wrists were still fastened in front of me. I kept both my eyes closed, trying to figure out where I was.

My cheek pressed into something bumpy. Nearby, someone walked around. But I was no longer on the truck.

I opened one eye, the one closest to the ground.

I recognized it as the roof of Stark Tower. Dr. Selvig, nearby, was setting up the portal.

This would be difficult to get out of. But with Hawkeye and the others gone, it seemed more possible than before. I started making a plan and hoped Dr. Selvig would have to leave or turn his back for just one short minute. That would, hopefully, be all I needed to get out of the handcuffs.

My mind was clearer now. And I remembered, before going on my walk with Ivy, putting in earrings. My third favorite pair, the TARDISes. One earring seemed to be missing, but the other TARDIS still brushed against my cheek.

Dr. Selvig turned away, setting something up. I reached up and carefully pulled the earring out, then started to work away at the lock.

I knew how to pick locks. Ivy taught me. It wasn't easy to pick the handcuffs, trust me. I would have to suddenly stop and pretend to still be asleep, then wait until he turned away again to keep working. Eventually, I got the lock undone, but still couldn't make a break for it. I wasn't sure how fast Dr. Selvig was and I didn't want to risk revealing anything. Not yet.

On the other hand, I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. I didn't particularly want to stick around for the invasion of New York.

I decided to take a chance as soon as he turned his back.

My heart started pounding. Maybe this was a bad idea… maybe he'd turn around the next time and then turn back the second I started running.

I didn't have my glasses, either. Would I be able to see where I was going?

Commit, I ordered myself.

He turned around.

I jumped up and ran as quietly as possible toward the other side of the roof. There had to be a way down from here.

Dr. Selvig spun around. "Hey, get back here!"

Why on Earth anyone would say that always felt a little pointless to me, because who in my situation would actually listen?

I kept running and practically fell onto a small stairway, going down. There was a door at the end.

To my great surprise, the door swung open. I stepped inside. It shut behind me.

I walked forward, into Stark Tower.

What now? He would eventually find a way to come after me.

Get to the ground floor and get out seemed the best idea.


	20. Chapter 20

Ivy here.

No one believed it when I was walking around almost immediately after waking up.

I didn't either.

Coulson was dead.

Honestly, I was glad I didn't have a chance to stop it from happening. Something had to happen to motivate the Avengers. Someone had to die. But did I have the right to decide whether it should happen or not?

I don't believe anyone has the right to decide whether someone else should live or die, except for God. It's not my place to try to change anything.

I walked to where Black Widow and Hawkeye were. I could hear their voices outside the door.

"So, what else? How many of ours did I –" said Hawkeye.

"Don't. Don't do that to yourself Clint," said Black Widow.

"A lot of them, then. And that girl…" He produced a pair of round glasses from his pocket. Miranda's. "She's right where the invasion is supposed to take place. And I hit that other girl, Tasha. I hit her and threatened her and –"

"She's fine, Clint. She's standing outside the door." I jumped as it slid open. "You shouldn't be walking around," said Black Widow. "Actually, you shouldn't even be awake yet."

Hawkeye stared at me. I still had bruises and evidence of injuries, but there was no actual damage left. I owed the Doctor for that one. Big time.

"Well, I seem to heal quickly. Hello, Agent Barton, it's good to meet you."

He just stared at me, probably shocked that I didn't seem at all upset, considering our first meeting. "It's… nice to meet you too, Miss Williams."

"Please call me Ivy," I said. Being called 'Miss Williams' always felt so strange for me, it didn't seem to fit.

"Time to go," said a voice behind me. I spun around. It was Cap, in full uniform. "Can you fly one of those planes?" he asked, addressing the Black Widow.

"I can," said Hawkeye.

Cap looked to Black Widow. She gave him a small nod.

"You got a suit?" asked Cap.

Hawkeye nodded.

"Then suit up."


	21. Chapter 21

Miranda here.

I made my way down to the lower floors with little difficulty, and, surprisingly, not a word from JARVIS. I slid out a conveniently open window and into an alley.

I'd never been to New York City. Wow, it was big.

And I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going.

I should call my parents. That was the first thought that came to mind.

Until I saw Iron Man speeding past.

Ivy here.

My teacher at karate always said that people will attack us when we're not expecting it. In what limited experience I have in fighting, I've learned that to be true.

But, of course, I didn't notice the footsteps until it was too late.

"You didn't really think I'd forgotten about you, did you?"

My head jerked up. Something sharp pressed into my throat.

"I think you understand exactly what I want," said Loki.

I couldn't speak. I set down the book next to me.

He moved the tip of his spear and grabbed the front of my shirt.

Then I was standing in Stark Tower. The room where Loki and Tony Stark had their "If we can't protect the Earth" scene.

Loki dragged me forward, tip of the spear between my shoulder blades.

At that same moment, Mr. Stark walked in.

His eyes widened at the sight of me.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," said Loki.

"Actually, I was planning to threaten you."

"Should have left your armor on for that."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well. Seemed like a bit of mileage when you've the big blue glowstick of destiny. And Agent Romanoff's twin."

"How could we be twins when I'm about fifteen and she's at least in her twenties?"

Loki ignored that. "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing."

"Yes. I've met them."

"Gives us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount. Your brother, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with _breathtaking _anger management issues, a couple of master assassins – and you, big fellah, have managed to tick off every single one of them."

"That was the plan." The spear seemed to press a little harder into my back.

"Not a great plan," said Mr. Stark. "When they come – and they will – they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

I should have been trying to figure out a way to get away. Instead, I enjoyed the scene.

"You're missing the point," said Tony Stark. He stepped toward us. "There's no throne. There's no version of this where you come out on top. _Maybe_ your army comes and _maybe_ it's too much for us but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be sure we'll avenge it."


	22. Chapter 22

Ivy here.

There was silence for a moment.

"You're going to lose," I threw in, turning slightly to look at Loki. "You simply _cannot_ win."

I thought he was going to stab me for a moment. "And what leads you to believe that?"

"_The Avengers_ was a movie in my reality. Huge movie, made a ton of money."

"What?"

"Yeah, apparently I'm from an alternate dimension. I know how this ends. And you won't like it."

I really needed to get Loki's spear away from my back. Unfortunately, I had never spent a lot of time training with how to do that sort of thing. It wasn't as if tons and tons of people ever found themselves in this sort of situation. I, honestly, had never expected to get into a fight for my life. Maybe a couple fights with boys at school or karate, maybe, but not one with really much at stake. I had been careless.

The spear seemed to press a little harder.

"It doesn't matter," said Loki.

I brought my right arm carefully behind my back. I honestly didn't know how well my plan would work. Death was pretty much certain if it failed. They didn't really teach how to defend against spears at karate. Still, I had to try.

I grabbed the handle of Loki's spear and jerked hard to the side. I stepped around it so I was on the outside of the spear.

He let go and grabbed my throat, lifting me off the ground then throwing me to the floor. Before I could get up, he grabbed me by the neck again. Somehow, I knew he was going to throw me out the window.

Unlike Tony Stark, I did not have a flying suit of armor to save myself with. So I grabbed onto his arm with one hand, locking his wrist against my collarbone to keep him from choking me, and swung both feet into his stomach. That did the trick and he let go, letting me fall. I rolled backward as I fell, mentally thanking my very tall black belt friend who had given me experience at similar falls.

"JARVIS, now would be a good time," said Mr. Stark.

The Mark VII flew straight into Loki, knocking him out the window instead.

"Thanks," I said.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"So we win?"

"Yes," I replied. "But you might not like how it happens. You are going to have to sacrifice something to win this, Mr. Stark."

He looked at me for a moment.

"Okay. What?"

"You'll know when the time comes."

He looked at me oddly for a moment, like he wanted to press for information, but knew he wouldn't get any answers.

"You stay here," said Tony. "Unless the tower gets destroyed."

"It stays mostly intact, yes," I said. "Though Loki gets smashed repeatedly on your floor by the Hulk."

He grinned.


	23. Chapter 23

Still Ivy. I'll hand it over to Miranda again soon, don't worry. You're probably all getting tired of my scratchy voice.

I might have stayed in Stark Tower through out the whole battle if it wasn't for Loki and Thor.

I could hear him from inside when he arrived.

"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it."

"There's no stopping it! There is only the war!" yelled Loki.

You know, on one hand, I've always felt sorry for Loki. I think nearly anyone with siblings has felt like he does, at least at some point. Like the other sibling is overshadowing them, like they're not as special, like their parents love the other one more.

Those of you with siblings out there, ever felt like that? If you say you haven't, you're either very fortunate or you're lying.

On the other hand, I've always wanted to yell at Loki and tell him that his family clearly cares about him and that if he just stopped feeling sorry for himself, he'd see that.

I think everyone probably feels like the way he does, once in a while. Like someone else is better than them or more loved. But most people don't try to take a planet because of it. Granted, most people don't have that as an option, but you know what I'm getting at, right?

I would have stayed and watched the fight if Loki hadn't noticed me. He threw one of his little knives in my direction. I tried to dodge, but it hit me in the arm. I stifled my yell of pain and yanked it out, pressing a hand against the injury to apply pressure. Loki took off toward me.

I prepared to throw his knife back at him, but he was a lot quicker than I was and knocked it out of my hands.

I'd had just about enough of him.

I stomped down on his kneecap. It probably didn't do much damage, but it did make him lose his balance slightly. I slammed my fist up into his jaw, then brought my other fist down on his nose.

A human nose probably would have snapped with the amount of power I put into that strike. His did not, but judging from his reaction, he probably didn't enjoy it much.

I ran.

I've already said I'm not fast.

As it turns out, being afraid that an angry alien will catch up and kill you is great motivation to improve your speed. Too bad I didn't have that to help me train for speed while running, it would have been an amazing help.

I ran out along the ledge. Loki was just behind me, Thor behind him.

Thor pulled back an arm to throw his hammer.

Loki must have seen it too, because suddenly he put on a burst of speed and shoved me over the side.


	24. Chapter 24

Ivy here.

My next thought, after realizing I was about to become a grease spot, was that something red and gold was streaking toward me.

I screamed just as something grabbed me around the middle, stopping my fall. Then I was lowered to the ground.

"You're bleeding," said Mr. Stark.

"I should be fine," I replied, pulling off my jacket – had it only been a day or so ago I'd put this on to go on a walk with Miranda? I tore off the sleeve and tied it around my arm. Was that the right thing to do? I didn't know, but I thought I was supposed to apply pressure, so that was what I did. Right now, a doctor probably wasn't a realistic option.

"You're going back up into the tower. I'll find your friend, what her name, Miranda?"

I nodded.

Hi, it's Miranda.

The first thing I did when the Chitauri attacked was find a good hiding place in an alley.

It's one thing to read about adventures. It's another to have them. I decided I wasn't cut out for them.

Something came smashing down in the alley next to my hiding place, behind some trash cans. I made myself as small as possible, shrinking against the wall.

One of the trash cans was knocked to the side.

A red and gold blur stood in front of me.

"Hi. You're Miranda Pond?"

I just stared at him in shock.

"Your friend, Ivy – she's here."

Why didn't that surprise me? At all?

"We're going to bring you somewhere safe. Okay? Oh, these are yours."

He handed me a familiar object.

I stood up and balanced my glasses on my nose. I blinked. Everything came into focus again. "Thanks."

"Ivy's at Stark Tower, I'm going to take you there. You've been there already."

"JARVIS told you?"

"Yes. He told me you were there. Was a bit too busy to head straight over or call. I just told him to keep an eye on you."

I'd thought it was strange that he'd never spoken up.


	25. Chapter 25

Ivy here.

Mr. Stark came smashing down outside.

Running footsteps sounded.

I jumped up from where I had been sitting on the floor and ran in the direction of the footsteps. I collided with something at the doors.

"Ivy!" said Miranda.

I grabbed her in a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just tired. How about you? What happened to your face?"

"I'm fine, it's healing. Hawkeye. On the helicarrier. I'm so sorry…"

"Sorry about what?" asked Miranda.

"I left you in the woods. I let him get you."

"Ivy…" she sighed. Miranda, who had always hidden her emotions, wore a clear expression of exasperation, something I had never seen her do. "Think about it. I certainly didn't expect help. He's better trained than you are, stronger, has experience fighting… you didn't have a chance. You did the smart thing and ran. If you'd stayed, it would have been both of us, not just me."

"That's not the point."

Mr. Stark took off again into the sky.

"What's the point, then?" asked Miranda.

"The point is I left you."

"The point is you did what nearly anyone else in your position would do," snapped Miranda. "You got scared. That's normal."

Miranda doesn't snap. I've never seen her angry, or really even upset. At least, not that she was showing, anyhow.

She walked past me into the room.

She was right, I guess. But it still felt wrong.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Loki. He had a knife."

"What's the blue stain on there?"

I glanced at the sleeve. Blue stained the grey fabric, along with the blood. I ripped the fabric off my arm.

Since I'm being honest here and none of my friends aside from Miranda will ever hear this recording, I might as well admit it – I hate the sight of blood and injuries. They're _gross_. Seriously, I don't know what people see in gory movies.

Still, I looked at the stab wound, as did Miranda, who didn't seem bothered at all by seeing it. Something blue oozed out of the injury, along with blood.

"Now, I'm no doctor," I said, "but that doesn't look good."

"_No_," agreed Miranda. "It does not."


	26. Chapter 26

Miranda here.

It got worse as time went on.

Blue kept oozing out of the bloody wound. I didn't have any way to stop it. I'm not a doctor, nor has anyone ever really taught me anything about first aid.

Ivy started sweating after an hour or so. And then throwing up. Blue vomit, all over the place.

"Any ideas?" asked Ivy after she stopped throwing up for a while.

"We could leave the tower and look for a doctor."

"Doubt we'd find one. JARVIS? Any ideas?"

Silence.

I'd never seen Ivy sick, and I'd known her since first grade. Even when she was feeling rotten, she was incredibly good at hiding it. She couldn't hide her emotions to save her life, but it was usually impossible to tell if she wasn't feeling well.

Eventually, she settled down on the steps. She looked like she was having trouble focusing on her surroundings.

"Ivy, don't fall asleep," I said. I didn't know the best thing to do, but keeping her awake felt like the right thing to do.

Outside, the battle raged. The Avengers worked as a team.

Ivy started throwing up again, and the gash in her arm refused to stop bleeding.

And then Loki was standing in the doorway.

I jumped when I saw him. He just stood there, looking at us.

"You just won't die, will you?" asked Loki.

Ivy sat up at the sound of his voice and got to her feet, trying to stand in front of me. "No. I need to stay around to stay around to see you lose." Her voice was little more than a whisper, but she was looking directly at him.

He walked forward until he was only a few feet away. "That poison was meant to kill something much stronger than you."

"The villain doesn't win," she replied. "You might think you're the victim here, but really, _you're_ the one who let go. You did all this. It's not anyone except you."

Usually, saying something like that to someone like Loki is a death warrant.

But he just looked at her, as if regarding something he found interesting, but didn't know what to do with it.

Then Ivy toppled forward.


	27. Chapter 27

Miranda here.

Loki grabbed Ivy on her way down.

I jumped up, expecting him to stab her again.

Instead, he set her down and knelt down next to her. He started to pull the now dirty bandage off Ivy's arm.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He ignored me and started to inspect her wound. It was still bleeding and oozing blue.

Ivy mumbled something and tried to knock his hands away, but it didn't do any good. She had long ago lost the strength she would need for that.

He reached a hand beneath his long green cloak and removed it covered in something green. He stared to rub it directly onto the bloody spot. As he did so, Ivy relaxed.

He finished, rubbing off his hand on his cloak. He tore off the other sleeve of Ivy's jacket and tied it around her arm.

As he did so, she sat up and take notice of her surroundings. She turned her attention to Loki.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

Ivy stared. "What? What are you –"

Then he pressed the tip of his spear to her chest.

I screamed.

Ivy's eyes widened, big and green. Then they glazed over, and then went blue.

Loki pulled it away, smiling. "Are you sorry about what you said to me?"

"Yes, Sir," said Ivy, in an empty voice.

"Then kneel."

Ivy's eyes flashed green and she lashed out, driving her fist into his jaw.

Loki stared and he hit her. Her head turned with the strike and she went down in a heap. I yelled.

She sat up, both eyes blue again. "My apologies, Sir."

She stood.

Loki didn't ask her to kneel again.

I didn't know how Ivy was resisting at all – Hawkeye hadn't been able to, why could she – but I guess he somehow knew the same thing would happen. Ivy and I it had something to do with the interdimensional energy that the Doctor told her about. I cannot _believe_ that I missed out on meeting him. I cannot believe it. Ivy is incredibly lucky and she doesn't even realize it!

Anyhow, you probably want to hear me rant. Ivy put up with two hours of it when she first told me.

"What about her, Sir?" asked Ivy, nodding her head toward me.

"I don't want her. I want you. You have heart."

The end of his spear collided with my head, and everything went black.


	28. Chapter 28

Ivy here.

I'm not proud of anything that happens next, okay? I regret all this and would change it if I could. I… just give me a minute.

Okay, I can do this. Sorry.

I have nightmares. Every night. Over all the things that happened in New York. That poisoned stab wound, Loki going after me. His mind control. Every detail of all of that is etched into my memory. Every. Single. One.

Loki took me down to the street and gave me orders. I was to put a knife in one of the Avengers – a poisoned one, like Loki had used for me. I would lure him off his perch and stab him. After that, my orders were to use it on myself.

Loki was so good as to provide several Chitauri that would chase me down the street in order to gain someone's attention.

So the Chitauri chased me down the street. And, of course, they bought it.

There was a sudden whizzing sound. Then I was being lifted off the ground. I shrieked in surprise.

My feet touched a solid surface.

"Look after her, Legolas," ordered Mr. Stark, then took off again. "I'll give her a talking to later."

"You okay?" asked Hawkeye.

"Yeah."

Both sides were, after sharing for a moment, fighting for control. One wanted to stab him with the knife. The other wanted to throw the knife down at the Chitauri.

He turned to fire an arrow.

I lunged with the knife, but hesitated at the last moment.

Hawkeye must have seen the flash. He dodged to the side, knocked the knife out of my hands, and tackled me to the ground, pinning down my arms.

"What are you – Ivy. Your eyes are blue." He stared into my face for a moment. "Ivy, try to fight it. You're in there somewhere, you just have to –"

"Don't you think I'm trying?" The words tore from my mouth before the other side could stop them. "You betrayed Loki. He means to –" said the other side, sounding forced and unemotional.

"Yeah, I've heard what he wants," said Hawkeye.

I struggled and kicked, but he was a lot stronger than I was, fortunately.

"Help me!" I pushed out.

He let go with one hand and punched me in the head, bringing darkness.


	29. Chapter 29

Ivy here.

I woke up with a splitting headache. Nothing seemed to be in focus. Something was moving in front of me, I wasn't sure what.

"Hey, you're up. You okay?"

Everything came back. And the full horror of what I had almost done filled me. I leaned over and threw up.

There was next to nothing in my stomach, but it was still unpleasant.

"No. I almost just…" my voice trailed off. I literally could not say it. Saying it would be confirming it. Making a reality.

"You couldn't have ever succeeded. Loki must have known that."

But if I hadn't been resisting… he would never have been expecting it. He'd turned his back on me, if I hadn't been resisting… I might have actually been fast enough to do it.

I… [I'm fine, Miranda. I can do this.]

I've been punched in the face, broken a rib or two (thanks to Hawkeye), been stabbed (long story involving a boy who wanted to show off his friends – it's an interesting story, actually, but I can't go into it here, not enough room in the recording, maybe some other time), even went through a windshield once during a car accident. But I don't cry when I'm in pain, physical or emotional.

Not even then. I buried my face in my hands. A tiny moan escaped my mouth.

"It's not your fault. You didn't have any control over it," he said. "Loki was controlling you, there was nothing you could have done."

"I should have," I mumbled. "There must have been something."

"If there is – and I doubt it – and you didn't know about it, it's still not your fault."

He fired off an arrow at an approaching Chitauri. They were swarming up the sides of the walls.

I stood up. The world tilted and I fell back.

A group of Chitauri charged. Hawkeye reached for an arrow, but he was out.

He pulled an arrow out of a dead alien and put it back in his quiver. Then he grabbed me and jumped off the edge of the building.

We weren't really falling. More like sliding along a rope.

Still, the feeling of plummeting toward the ground wasn't exactly a pleasant one.

And then we were swinging forward. We slammed into the glass. It shattered.

We both landed on the floor in among the shards. They cut into my skin.

I'm not sure how much time passed while we lay there. But then he was leaning over me.

"You okay?"

"I'll live." I sat up, wincing. Shards of glass were stuck in my arms, and his too.

I got to my feet.

"Stark!" said a voice over Hawkeye earpiece, the voice just barely audible to me. "We got a nuke coming in, about three minutes before it blows up."

Well, here it came. The end of the battle at last. Good. I was just about sick of this whole mess.

"Got it," said Mr. Stark. "Hey, is Ivy there?"

Hawkeye looked surprised, but pulled off his earpiece and handed it to me.

"Ivy?" said Mr. Stark.

"Yeah?"

"You know about this the whole time, didn't you." It wasn't a question. "This is what you were talking about."

"Yes. It was." I knew he was going to survive, come out alive.

But it didn't help one bit.

**Does anyone know when the Thor 2 trailer is coming out?**


	30. Chapter 30

Ivy here.

"What's going to happen?" asked Hawkeye as I handed back his ear piece.

"Stark?" said Cap. "What are you doing?"

"Taking the missile up through the portal. Give the Chitauri a welcome-to-Earth present."

"But you don't have enough power to fly back down," said Black Widow.

"I know. Save the rest for the turn, J."

Hawkeye was staring at the earpiece in his hand. "You knew he was going to do this?"

I nodded.

"And you didn't do anything to –"

"You think I didn't want to?" I asked. "I'm in the middle of a story and I don't dare risk changing the ending. Miranda and me, we don't belong here. I don't do anything. If you knew how it ended, you might try to change it. And if I change one thing here, it could end up completely different. Would you tell anyone what happened?"

He looked at me for a moment.

Both our arms were bloodstained. Aside from the stab wound in my arm, there numerous bits of glass stuck in my arms, as there were in Hawkeye's.

"We should get those out," I said.

"It can wait. We still have a war to fight."

"After the missile explodes, all the Chitauri will drop dead," I said. There couldn't really be any harm in him knowing that.

"Well, I suppose that'll make it easier for you," said Mr. Stark.

I could tell him he was going to live. But what could happen if he did know? I wrestled with the question for a moment. Who was I to decide the answer? Who am I to decide what's best, really?

I watched through the broken window as Mr. Stark flew up through the portal.

And I couldn't take it.

"You're going to –" I began.

And static filled the earpiece.


	31. Chapter 31

Miranda here.

I woke up to a low moan on the floor nearby. I sat up, rubbing my head.

Loki lay in a hole on the floor.

"Hi," I said.

He glared at me.

"How do you feel?" I asked. "I imagine having the Hulk smash you on the floor isn't much fun."

He kept glaring.

"Where's Ivy?"

"Barton hit her in the head."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stark's going to die, though."

"No, he isn't. He'll fall and the Hulk will catch him."

He groaned.

"You know, Ivy was right. It's all you. It's not anyone except you."

I've heard all the theories about Loki being under mind control. I'm not sure what to think, but I do know that his longing for revenge is probably his and his alone, not a result of mind control.

What would happen if we smashed the blue gem on his staff, though? I've always wondered. And what happened to that staff afterwards anyhow? We never did find out.

Right. Back to the story.

"You know, they really do care, Loki. They really care. And you're very lucky for it. I think everyone who ever had a sibling has felt the way you do, to a certain extent. Everyone feels as if their brother or sister is favored over themselves. Some had more reason to think so than others. Particularly Ivy." I closed my mouth quickly, it wasn't my place to talk about Ivy. Nor is it my place to discuss her life in this recording.

"Maybe I should have had her join me at the beginning."

I actually laughed. "No. It would take more than that staff of yours to make her do anything for you without her trying to fight against you. You saw what she did when you ordered her to kneel." Was she okay? I put the thought out of my head. Ivy was out of his control, and she could take care of herself. "But you know, Loki, maybe you could try to take her example. _She's _not lying in a dent on the floor, fighting a losing battle. Just saying."

I doubted he'd listen to me. But you never know. Sometimes, you don't know until later if you did any good, and sometimes a small seed is all it takes.


	32. Chapter 32

Ivy here.

We stood at the window, watching for a moment in silence as the portal closed. And then a dark speck fell out.

"Come on," said Hawkeye.

We managed to make it to the street to see a dark blob falling out of the closing portal.

We made it around the corner in time to see the Hulk land holding Mr. Stark and setting him down on the ground.

Thor and Cap were kneeling over him. His face was perfectly still.

No one said anything.

Then the Hulk roared.

He jumped.

"Whoa! Whoa! What just happened?"

"We won," said Cap.

"Hey, alright! You know what, let's not come tomorrow, let's just take a day," said Mr. Stark. "You ever tried shawarma?"

Cap looked puzzled.

"There's a shawarma joint a couple blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," said Thor.

The Avengers assembled in the street and headed up into Stark Tower, with Mr. Stark complaining up the damage all the way up the stairs. Yes, we took the stairs. Yes, Stark Tower actually has them. The elevator was out of order. The Hulk, being unable to fit in the narrow stairwell, was trying to make his way up from outside, and Thor would fly up, after he finished patrolling for any surviving Chitauri.

By the time we made it just half way up, everyone was exhausted, me most of all. On top of all that, this was the most tired I'd ever been in my life. My arms hurt from all the cuts from glass shards. Though Hawkeye had done his best to get them out, slivers and splinters still remained.

Thor and the Hulk made it to the top of the tower at about the same time we did.

Loki was just getting up as we surrounded him. Hawkeye pointed an arrow at him.

He didn't say anything for a moment. He just stared at us.

"You failed," he said to me.

"Yes, thankfully. And you failed. I told you that you would."

Different emotions mixed inside of me. Anger. Relief. But no sympathy. I couldn't manage to feel any pity for this alien, who had been willing to destroy a planet – and, ultimately, a universe – in order to get revenge on his brother. I understood how he was feeling, but nothing justifies any of what he did.

**Wow. I almost can't believe it. I'm one chapter away from a finished multichapter story. And it only took a few years for me to do it! I'll miss this story... but not for long. In all liklihood, Ivy and Miranda, or Ivy and another friend of hers, will be Tony Stark and Pepper a visit sometime soon. Sometime after May 3rd...**


	33. Chapter 33

Okay, Ivy still here. Final message here. Thanks to whoever has been typing these out, and to whoever might be reading them. At least, I hope someone's been doing that… anyhow, back to the story.

I really don't like Halloween. There's a whole host of reasons. One of them is all the trick or treaters knocking on the door. My parents always go out, so I have to explain that we don't hand out candy because we don't celebrate Halloween.

And then there's some of the neighbor boys. They think it's hilarious to try to TP the house. Every. Single. Year. And guess who has to clean up?

Not this year. That's why I was standing in the middle of the lawn, dressed as a scarecrow. I would scare them silly. The whole getup looked ridiculous, but it was necessary. And, up in the tree, was a camera, ready to take a video of the whole thing.

Footsteps sounded on the sidewalk. I stayed perfectly still, staring ahead.

"This is her house, right?" said a female voice. "Interesting lawn decoration."

Two familiar figures stepped in view. I ran towards them, forgetting my costume.

And just when I never thought I'd see Hawkeye and the Black Widow look scared. Both of them yelled, and Hawkeye pulled out a knife before I stopped.

Black Widow was the first to figure out who it was and recover from her surprise.

"Hi. Do you always greet people like that?" asked Black Widow.

"And does Miranda _always _sit in her front yard with a hose on Halloween?" asked Hawkeye.

It was only then that I realized they were both soaking wet. I nodded. Miranda had given me the idea for the scarecrow thing. The neighbor boys were _very_ busy on Halloween.

Life had gotten back to normal for us after the invasion of New York – well, as normal as it could.

"Actually, Miranda does, has for years. The scarecrow thing is just something I'm trying out this year. So," I said, pulling off the scarecrow mask, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"We just came by to say hello and check on you," replied Black Widow.

"How's your arm?" asked Hawkeye.

"Getting better. Everyone seems to believe the explanation you gave us to use, thanks, by the way. I still haven't managed to come up with anything to explain the footage of me being pushed off Stark Tower, though."

Since our adventure, I'd counted switching universes about three times. This was the fourth. I had taken to wearing long gloves, like Rogue in X-men, in order to avoid transporting anyone else by accident. It was hard, though. I couldn't keep them on all the time, and they didn't exactly fit in with my usual way of dressing.

"How are you doing after… everything that happened?" asked Hawkeye.

I hadn't slept through the night since that summer. My parents had sent me to therapists, but I couldn't tell them the truth, so they couldn't really help very much. Miranda also wasn't doing so well. We'd had a couple sleepovers, and she never slept. Her gaze was always glued to the ceiling, eyes wide open, though we never talked about anything that had happened. "I can handle it. It's getting better."

We talked for a couple more minutes, and they left. I watched as they vanished into the darkness.

There were so many things that were going to happen over the next few years. _Iron Man 3_. _Thor_ _2. Captain America 2 _– before all this, I'd been looking forward to them. Now… I don't know. I'll be there to see all of them, of course. Or maybe I won't. I don't know anymore.

I guess that's it. Hopefully, we'll never assemble one of these recordings again. If we do, it means something else happened. That we got pulled into all this again.

But if something does happen, you can bet we know who to get for help.

**And there you have it. My first finished multichapter story on here. Did you all enjoy it?**

**I will, in all likelihood, write one for **_**Iron Man 3**_** after it comes out. Don't expect it to come out too quickly, though. I would write the whole thing first, so I don't take an eternity about updating, and to ensure I actually finish it. I actually started writing this about four times until I found one I liked, there was actually going to be three girls instead of two, but I decided it was probably overkill. I probably won't do that to you again with **_**Iron Man 3**_**, but just a warning…**

**I've been thinking that, maybe, I will write a follow up to this story with Ivy finding herself in different universes. Like she'll randomly see Maximum Ride fly by or something. Or maybe she'll meet the Doctor again for a few minutes. Just brief one shots. Anyone who's interested, let me know.**

**Thank you to all my lovely reviewers. You make my day every time I find a new review.**

**Farewell… for now.**


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